Monday, September 9, 2013

ABOUT THE 2014 YEAR OF THE HORSE 1 OZ SILVER COIN

The Horse is the seventh animal in the twelve year Zodiac cycle. Exciting and extroverted, vivid and animated, those born during the Year of the Horse are the life of any party they attend. They are bursting with energy, always looking for the next place to kick up their heels and hang loose. New Zealand Mint is happy to release three beautiful Lunar coins to celebrate the Year of the Horse 2014.

REVERSE DESIGN

This depicts a powerful image of a pair of stunning, pure white horses, captured mid stride in high quality colour. Sunken into this image is the Chinese character for Horse. This image is set against a mirror finish background and encircled by an ornately engraved border design including the words 2014 Year of the Horse.

OBVERSE DESIGN

This features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

PACKAGING

The 2014 Year of the Horse 1 oz Silver Coin is packaged inside an elegant wooden coloured, lacquered coin box. This sits inside a pure white outer case, matching the colour of the white horses of this coin. The Certificate of Authenticity is displayed inside the inner packaging.

Monday, September 2, 2013

The Bradley Manning Coin Project, The Hero, seeks to increase awareness about PFC Manning and these issues, to raise money for his legal defense, and to memorialize this moment in history when a young man stood for what was right, spoke truth to power, and gained the support and admiration of people world-wide. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this coin will go towards Bradley Manning’s legal defense fund.

HERO

It is not a word we often use. Typically we prescribe it to fictional characters created in our minds because they so infrequently appear in real life. The truth is, heroes do not set out to be heroes.

In 2010, 23 year old PFCBradley Manning saw something – acts of egregious disregard for human life, coverups by world governments, and information that would forever change the way history perceived American militarism in the twenty-first century.

What would you do if you had access to classified information, the substance of which affected the lives and future of an entire planet? Would you selfishly keep it to yourself, or would you do as Manning did and share it with the world?

Among the documents and videos that Manning allegedly shared with Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, was a video where soldiers aboard a U.S. Army Apache helicopter rained hell fire down on a group of civilians including two children and two Reuter Reporters they mistakingly took for opposition forces. This “Collateral Murder” video legitimized the debate as to whether the wages of U.S. military adventurism was worth whatever national interest for which the rulers of the United States claim it is perpetuated. How would you feel if those children were your children? How would you feel if those reporters were your husband, your brother, your friend? Is it an acceptable loss? What do we gain?

Along with the Afghan and Iraqi war logs, Manning shared diplomatic wires that shed light on the corruption of U.S. government officials that were both embarrassing and exposed the Bush and Obama presidential administrations for their war crimes.

Much debate has been held over the morality of his decision. Was it right for him to share that information? Who owns information? Is information free? Does it belong to all of us? What role does information play in our lives? Are we truly safer if we are protected from the truth?

There is no doubt that people have been hurt as a result of this leak. The question is – how many people were hurt before the leak and what will change to prevent more from being hurt now that we have the information. Will our governments change their foreign policy? Will officials and military personnel exercise more discernment and respect? Will citizens rise up and overthrow their tyrannical leaders? Some argue they already have. Both the Egyptian and Libyan revolutions can be linked to outrage over information leaded in these documents.

Wikileaks has yet to confirm that Manning was the source of the leaks – citing their protocols to keep the whistleblower’s identity a secret. The media and our government has sought to distract us from what is actually happening here by diverting our attention to Assange’s personal life and Manning’s sexual identity and personal issues.

Whatever Assange’s faults or Manning’s sexual preference, these issues are only static The gravity and the scale of Mannings actions are what he is and should be judged by. Bradley Manning gave to the world the smoking gun. It is up to us to do something with it.

We created this medallion to honor the actions of a hero and to commemorate this moment in history when a boy spoke truth to power and arguably exposed more abhorrent, subversive, and illegal actions by more rulers and officials than in all of human history combined.

We put it on silver because of its precious, collectable nature. It will never be discarded, torn, worn, or decay. It will be preserved – possibly for hundreds of thousands of years. It will sit in the hand of some collector generations from now who will explain how important and significant Manning’s actions were and, hopefully how these actions began an age of truth-telling and whistle-blowing that resulted in a more free and transparent humanity.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

There are between 20,000 and 30,000 islands situated throughout the Pacific Ocean.

The existence of so many islands has created enormous opportunities for evolutionary development due to selective breeding. The result is a fantastic array of birdlife on islands throughout the Pacific, where birds have evolved into slightly different forms resulting in unique and endemic species.

New Zealand Mint is releasing this beautiful three Coin Set to celebrate these iconic birds of the Pacific.

Reverse Designs

Niue: This coin face features a high quality colour image of the Pacific Pigeon, Ducula pacifica, or ‘Lupe’ in Niuean.

This bird is generally acknowledged to be the most widely recognised endemic bird species on Niue. To its left is the Fiti Pua, Fagraea berteroana, the flower of Niue, and the Niuean coat of arms.

Fiji: This coin face features the vibrant colours of the Collared Lory, Phigys solitaries, the National bird of Fiji.

Also featured is the native Tagimoucia Flower, Medinilla waterhousei, endemic to the highland rainforests of the Fijian Islands, only growing at an altitude of over 600 metres (656 yards). Above this is the official Fijian National Coat of Arms.

Pitcairn Island:

This final coin features the Henderson Island Fruit Dove, Ptilinopus insularis, an iconic bird endemic to the Pitcairn Islands and listed as vulnerable by the IUCN.

Below this is the native Yellow Fautu, Abutilon pitcairnense, a critically endangered perennial plant once thought to be extinct until a single plant was discovered in 2003. All elements are set against a finely engraved Pacific Island background, flowing across all three coins and their timber surround.

Obverse Designs

Niue: Features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Fiji: Features the Fijian National Coat of Arms.

Pitcairn Island: Features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Packaging

The Birds of the Pacific Islands 3 x 1 oz Silver Coin Set is packaged in a natural-looking wooden coin holder, displaying the 3 coins side by side. The coin holder sits inside a wooden inner case, which is decorated with pacific-style engravings. The inner case sits inside a pacific themed white outer packaging. A Certificate of Authenticity is displayed inside the inner packaging.

Cannabis

Cannabis has been at the forefront of the War on Drugs since the 1930’s; its uses have been demonized and vilified as having ill effects and dangerous consequences. Efforts to demonize the plant’s credibility have even lead to racism and social degradation.

It’s tragic, but not surprising, that the government’s attempt to control our bodies and our rights has led to the real immorality and social injustice our society continues to experience.

Individuals- regardless of heritage, race or gender—are most capable of making decisions for themselves and that includes what they choose to put into their bodies. Those who choose to use Cannabis to find medical relief or simply for recreational purposes are not devaluing themselves or society—they are the ones taking action to uphold their liberties.

The Coin

The Cannabis coin is a testament to the plant’s beauty and purpose as well as our beauty, our purpose and our ability to make the best choices for ourselves. Whether your fight is specifcally against prohibition or more broadly against oppressing, unjust laws, this coin will act as a reminder to us that all of our liberties are sacred and that the individual's power must be preserved at all costs.

War On Drugs? Or Liberty?

Cannabis has been at the forefront of the War on Drugs since the 1930’s; its uses demonized and vilified as having ill effects and dangerous consequences. Nearing its 100th anniversary, the drug war has done little to prevent cannabis usage, though it has been very successful in criminalizing our youth and creating future felons.

As government powers have expanded to control recreational drug use, so has the world’s incarcerated population. The numbers have shot up dramatically, from roughly 500,000 prisoners in 1980 to around 2.25 million by 2005. Over 1 trillion dollars have been spent in government efforts to fight the war on drugs.

History of Illegalization and Vilification

The government has been furthering its involvements in our daily habits and personal intake since its first ban on opium in 1914. The progression of drug laws from The Nixon Administration to the advancement of federal power under the Obama Administration has illustrated the unwanted intrusion of the federal government into our personal lives.

Those who attempt to ban our rights to privacy use the same, old argument over and over again—they cry ‘Immorality!’ Henry Anslinger—a man ironically addicted to morphine at the early age of twelve years old—led the campaign against marijuana in the 30’s as the commissioner for the National Bureau of narcotics. He launched a campaign against cannabis by using the media and branding to label the plant and the use of the substance as ‘degrading to society.’ His goal was to grow his newly formed Narcotics agency to expand to banning all recreational drugs.

He is responsible for remarking the plant as ‘marijuana’—his attempt to make the plant as inferior by promoting its formal Spanish name; his efforts to demonize the plant’s credibility often lead to racism and social degradation.